SW News: Less than 100 meters away from the relics of the first pope St Peter in St Peter’s Basilica, his 265th successor will be laid to rest on Jan. 5 in the same grave where two of his saintly predecessors were initially buried.

The Holy See’s spokesman Matteo Bruni has confirmed that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body would be interred in the same grave where Pope St John Paul II and Pope St John XXIII were first laid to rest. It was on January 2 that Bruni confirmed the burial spot.

After the funeral Mass and aspersion on January 5, the casket carrying the body of the former pontiff will be carried to the crypt which is located beneath the central part of the Basilica where it will be placed in the grave. It was the wish of Benedict XVI to be buried in the same grave as his predecessor.

The mortal remains of Pope St. John Paul II remained in that simple grave from April 8, 2005, until April 29, 2011, when the coffin was taken to the upper part of the Basilica just a few days before the beatification. It was the wish of the Polish pope to be buried in the soil. The same grave was also the burial site of St. John XXIII, who opened the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

The modest grave is located on the northern portion of the central part of the crypt. Above the gravestone on the wall is an image showing the Blessed Mother and the Child Jesus with angels on either side. On the immediate right lies the sarcophagus with the mortal remains of Sweden’s Queen Christina, who passed away on April 19, 1689.